DORÉ, Gustave. La Ménagerie Parisienne. Comprised of a printed title and 24 contemporary, hand-coloured lithographic plates. 4to., 243 x 325 mm, bound in publisher's gilt-lettered green glazed paper over boards. Paris: Journal Pour Rire, [ca. 1861].

Exquisite and extremely rare copy with all the lithographs brilliantly coloured by a contemporary (probably publisher's) hand and heightened in gum arabic.

This title was first issued with black and white lithographs in 1854. Created as a social satire of French culture, La Ménagerie Parisienne was intended by Doré to be witty more than critical. He attributed an animal name to select Parisians, attitudes and fashion in clothing corresponding to the characteristics of the animal. For example: Lions portrays a group of preening, bearded men haughtily studying female pedestrians as they promenade past; Lionnes gives us a portrait of indifferent women of high class speeding in a carriage through a Parisian street; Rats d'opéra reveal three men in a box at the Paris opera house leering at the stage populated with a phalanx of comely ballerinas; and Coq is a sheer delight, displaying a male dancer on tip-toe, nose high in the air, performing a street jig for a captivated audience. Other subjects include: Loups (wolves), Les Buses (buzzards), Chouettes (owls), Panthères (panthers), Pie (magpies), Gens de Bourse (stockbrokers), and Grandes Dames ou Gens du Peuple. This early Doré publication offers lithographs very much in the spirit and under the influence of Honoré Daumier.

"All three of these lithographic albums are rare. Most copies were long ago taken apart to sell the lithographs individually. There are also full-color versions of the Ménagerie and Publics, and those are particularly desireable" (Malan, Gustave Doré, p. 35). This is a very fresh copy with outstanding colouring. Publisher's boards rebacked with matching green glazed paper, new leather title label on spine, plates trimmed closely.

PROVENANCE: Descamps-Scrive with ex-libris (his catalogue II, 1925, # 486; Étienne Cluzel with ex-libris; Samuel Clapp of London, from his renowned Doré collection.

EXHIBITED: Musee de'Art Moderne Strasbourg, 1983, Catalogue # 527.

See: Rahir, Bibliothèque de l'amateur 404. Malan, Gustave Doré 230. Leblanc, Catalogue de L'Oeuvre Complet de Gustave Doré 237.

DORÉ, Gustave. Les Différents Publics de Paris. Comprised of a lithographic printed title and 20 contemporary hand-coloured lithographic plates. Oblong 4to., 262 x 350 mm, later ¾ brown cloth with blue/brown marbled paper over boards, green morocco title-label on front cover. Paris: Au Bureau du Journal Amusant, n.d. [1854].

Remarkable and very important suite of lithographs from early in Doré's career. Publics de Paris contains a total of 21 original lithographs coloured by a contemporary (publisher's?) hand. The lithographs are all mounted on stubs. The colouring is exquisite. Doré's lithographs picture Parisian life at the circus, the theater, the public garden, at magic performances, a puppet show in the park, reading in the imperial library (a famous Doré image), the amphitheater of the medical school, a course in anatomy, etc.

"These twenty lithographs are studies of massed humanity, ranging from audiences at the great Parisian theaters to the crowds at a wrestling match or a Punch and Judy show. Without exception they are striking in conception and fertile in detail... each of Doré's scenes is based on close observation, and the album provides valuable testimony to the manners of the day" (Ray p. 330).

"[ Les Travaux d'Hercule] and the more imposing albums which followed remain too little known even among Doré's ardent admirers because of their great scarcity. They show the artist at his most engaging, bearing witness to a lively sense of humor, now broad, now sophisticated, which was muted in his later illustrations" (Ray p. 327). "All three of these lithographic albums are rare. Most copies were long ago taken apart to sell the lithographs individually. There are also full-color versions of the Ménagerie and Publics, and those are particularily desirable" (Malan, Gustave Doré, p. 35). A fine copy.

PROVENANCE: Samuel Clapp of London, from his renowned Doré collection.

Rahir, Bibliothèque de l'amateur, 404. Beraldi VI, 30. Ray, Art of the French Illustrated Book 241. Leblanc 90.